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The U.N. aid agency serving Palestinians in Gaza faced more funding cuts Monday amid accusations that 12 of its employees were involved in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war.
An Israeli document obtained by The Associated Press on Monday details Israeli claims that U.N. teachers and a social worker employed by the agency, known as UNRWA, allegedly stormed into Israel that day, in some cases helping to take hostages or coordinating weapons’ transfers.
The allegations over the weekend triggered a wave of funding cuts by major donors, including the U.S., Britain and France. Austria said Monday that it would suspend its financial assistance.
UNRWA employs roughly 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza and says it will be forced to halt operations within weeks if funding isn’t restored. The war has led to a humanitarian catastrophe that has displaced the vast majority of the embattled enclave’s population and caused widespread hunger.
Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7 killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. About 250 people were taken captive, according to Israeli authorities.
It set off a brutal air, sea and ground offensive by Israel's military that has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians, most of them women and minors, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. It has also threatened to set off a wider regional conflict.
Currently:
— Biden says US ‘shall respond’ after drone strike by Iran-backed group kills 3 US troops in Jordan
— Israel notes ‘significant gaps’ after cease-fire talks with US, Qatar, Egypt but says constructive
— Israel’s president says the UN world court misrepresented his comments in its genocide ruling
— What is UNRWA, the main aid provider in Gaza that Israel accuses of militant links?
— Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
Here's the latest:
BERLIN — Germany has condemned the fatal attack on U.S. troops in Jordan that Washington has blamed on Iran-backed militias and is calling on Tehran to exert its influence on regional allies to prevent further escalation.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sebastian Fischer on Monday underlined Berlin’s solidarity with Jordan and the U.S.
He added that “in view of the extremely tense situation in the region, this act is completely irresponsible and could lead to pushing the region further toward escalation.”
Fischer said: “We expect from Iran that it finally exert its influence on its allies in the region so that there is no uncontrolled conflagration, in which no one can have an interest.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian authorities say five Palestinians, including a 16-year old boy, have been killed by Israeli forces in separate shootings across the occupied West Bank on Monday.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the boy was killed near the Israeli settlement of Tekoa. The ministry gave no further details, but the Israeli military said the boy had attempted to carry out a stabbing attack on soldiers at a guard post.
In other violence, the Palestinian Health Ministry said two men, one of them age 18, were shot dead by Israeli troops in the southern West Bank city of Dura. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said that Israeli forces opened fire after clashing with Palestinians from the area.
Two other men were killed — one of them in the southern city of Hebron and the other in the central town of Silwad, it said.
The Israeli army said one of its counterterrorism operations in the town of Dura overnight Sunday sparked a riot in the town. It said its forces then opened fire in response to dozens of Palestinian protesters hurling stones at its troops.
In the town of Yamoun, near Jenin, Israeli forces said its troops returned fire at a wanted suspect they were trying to arrest, hitting the man.
BRUSSELS — The European Union wants to appoint independent experts to conduct an audit of the U.N.’s Palestinian refugee agency to ensure that UNRWA staff can't be involved “in terrorist activities.”
The 27-nation bloc is one of the biggest donors of humanitarian and development aid to Palestinians in Gaza, but was not scheduled to provide more funding to UNRWA before the end of February.
Israel has accused a dozen UNRWA employees of taking part in the Hamas attack in October that ignited the war and stoked deadly instability across the Middle East. Several countries have frozen funding to the agency.
The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, says it “expects UNRWA to agree to carrying out an audit of the agency to be conducted by EU appointed independent external experts.”
The audit would focus “specifically on the control systems needed to prevent the possible involvement of its staff in terrorist activities.”
BAGHDAD — Iraq's government condemned the drone strike that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan near the Syrian border Sunday, in an apparent effort to distance itself from an attack that was likely carried out by one of the country's multiple Iranian-backed militias.
Government spokesman Bassem al-Awadi said in a statement on Monday that Iraq is “monitoring with a great concern the alarming security developments in the region” and called for “an end to the cycle of violence.” The statement said that Iraq is ready to participate in diplomatic efforts to prevent further escalation.
An umbrella group for Iran-backed factions known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed dozens of attacks against bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria since the Israel-Hamas war began. On Sunday, the group claimed three drone attacks against sites in Syria, including near the border with Jordan, and one inside of “occupied Palestine” but so far hasn't claimed the attack in Jordan.
JERUSALEM — Israeli authorities say a 20-year-old man has been seriously wounded after an attack outside a military base in Haifa in northern Israel.
The Israeli military said a motorist carried out a car ramming attack on Monday before exiting the vehicle and trying to attack soldiers with an ax. The soldiers shot at the attacker, the military said. It wasn't immediately clear if the attacker was killed.
Israel’s rescue service Magen David Adom said that paramedics were treating a 20-year-old man with “serious lower limb injuries,” and had evacuated him to a hospital in serious condition.
The attack came as tensions have spiked around the region over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Earlier this month, a woman was killed in a similar attack north of Tel Aviv.
BERLIN — Austria is joining a string of Western partners in suspending payments to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees after Israel accused a dozen of its employees of taking part in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that started the war.
The Foreign Ministry in Vienna said in a statement Monday that Austria “will provisionally suspend all further payments to UNRWA in coordination with international partners” until all the accusations are “fully cleared up” and there is clarity on the consequences.
It called on the UNRWA agency and the wider U.N. to conduct a “comprehensive, quick and complete investigation.”
TOKYO — Japan has suspended additional funding for UNRWA while the agency conducts an investigation into allegations that UNRWA staff were involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
It said Japan is “extremely concerned about the alleged involvement of UNRWA staff members in the terror attack on Israel” last year.
The ministry noted the dedication of many UNRWA staff in providing humanitarian assistance to Gaza and said: “Japan has been strongly urging UNRWA to conduct an investigation in a prompt and complete manner and to take appropriate measures, including strengthening governance with UNRWA, so that UNRWA can firmly fulfill the role it should play.”